1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication technique and, more particularly, to near field communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is available a wireless communication system in which communication terminals each having a near field communication function can exchange data using near field communication. The communication terminals which exchange data can establish wireless connection by making their near field communication antennas come close to each other and further making the antennas come closer to each other.
Near field communication having a very short communicable distance can easily identify a network and is almost free from eavesdropping. Accordingly, designating a network identifier, inputting a password, and the like can be omitted. For this reason, near field communication features that a wireless link can be connected by a simple operation, that is, making the terminals to be communicated come close to each other.
When the wireless link of near field communication is set in a connected state, one communication terminal can transfer user data such as image data and document data to the other communication terminal using various kinds of applications running in these communication terminals.
There are available a method of determining the source communication terminal and the destination communication terminal for transferring the user data and the transfer direction by a user operation before the connection and a method of interactively selecting them at the time of communication. More specifically, a user operates one communication terminal to set an application in a reception mode, while a partner operates the other communication terminal to set an application in a transmission mode.
As another method, the user operates one communication terminal to start up a reception application, while the partner operates the other communication terminal to start up a transmission application.
As still another method, while one communication terminal is set in a standby mode upon running the application in the reception mode, the user operates the other communication terminal to set the application in the transmission mode.
A touch panel display is available as an operation technique in recent communication terminals. Using a touch panel display, the user can touch various types of objects such as buttons and icons displayed on the touch panel display with a finger or pen. The user can also input information by moving a finger to trace the panel of the touch panel display. This makes it possible to omit input parts such as buttons.
In addition, the touch panel display is used for not only simple actions such as pressing of buttons but also display of objects depending on situations and actions for these objects. This allows the user to perform more intuitive simple operations.
There is proposed a method for determining the transfer direction of user data with an intuitive operation by using a technique for detecting an operation direction using a motion sensor (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-045681). According to the control of this method, an apparatus B is made to approach close to an apparatus A to establish near field communication connection. Thereafter, when the user displaces the apparatus B to direct it to a direction in which the apparatus B sends information to the apparatus A, the apparatus B transfers data to the apparatus A. When the apparatus B is displaced to turn back away from the apparatus B, the apparatus A transfers data to the apparatus B.
As described above, there are available communication apparatuses capable of establishing wireless link connections with a simple operation, that is, making the mating communication apparatuses come close to each other. However, in the conventional near field communication system, although the wireless link connection is established by making the mating communication apparatuses come close to each other, a nonintuitive operation, that is, an operation of determining the transfer direction of user data on the application is required.
Even if one communication apparatus is always set in the standby mode to omit operation procedures, this operation cannot be regarded as an intuitive operation. This wastes power while in the standby mode.
Although an example using a motion sensor is also proposed, the power in the standby mode during near field communication cannot be suppressed, provided that an intuitive operation is disclosed.